Guilty Crown: The Return (reboot)
by Akiracchinn
Summary: Years into the aftermath of the apocalypse, Shu is far behind the others and struggles to live. Longing for Inori as each day passes proves too excruciating. Until, one day Yuu lures Shu into Da'ath's Utopia, an inter-dimensional plane holding the soul of someone he holds most dear. At what cost will this endeavor demand of him?


_This is a reboot of my previous fanfic i did a couple of years back. I wasn't a very good writer back then, but i thought my story was too precious for me to erase :3_

 _Enjoy this newly revised story and don't forget to leave a review! Thanks!_

* * *

Dark. It began very dark.

Then, almost like a flood of the whole color spectrum, there was light. There she appeared. As the rising sun emanated the fading shadows of Shu's face, he slowly walked toward her. _Tap, tap, tap_ , the sounds of his black oxford shoes made. His steps were unusually loud and echoed thoroughly through the bright space. It was nice to wear his former high school uniform. The nostalgic feeling of his clothes felt both so distant and so near simultaneously.

The setting was a mixture of hazy and everything perfect. It was too blurry to make out the details of the place, but it didn't really matter, _she_ was finally there. Adorning her classic funeral apartment, it felt like he only saw her the first time.

Shu's fingertips slowly moved towards her shoulder. Slowly, just to ensure she wouldn't disappear abruptly.

Just like that, he felt her soft and pale skin. It felt surreal. Inori simply stood there, eyes closed with lips innocent of words.

The brunette ran his fingers gently down her shoulders to her wrist, how he missed the feeling of her. The smooth sensation of her skin as he felt the shape of her arm was something he longed for.

 _God, she's so beautiful_ he thought to himself.

Suddenly, he felt like doing something he had not dared to do in her lifetime. With slight hesitation, he kissed the bare edge of her shoulder.

Almost like a true gentleman he gracefully made his way up to her neck. This time she was feeling a little embarrassed, albeit still compliant to his actions. He wondered why he never bothered to do this before, let alone confess the undying feelings he had for her. He never felt so alive in a damn long time.

As his lips finally reached the lobe of her right ear, he slid up both of their hands and interlocked fingers. It was like preparing for a dance just made for the both of them.

Of course, he knew this was just a bittersweet dream. He had grown much too used to being without Inori that it was too good to be true. It was okay though, it didn't matter to him.

From there, their arms settled into an intimate embrace. He couldn't help but grin in delight. She returned the smile, too.

He let a sigh of breath escape his mouth as he recalled their memories together. Taking in all of that pain and love, Shu dug his face into her hair. The strawberry scent of her hair was so vividly fragrant. However, it was inevitable that tears would flow from his poor eyes. His embrace grew tighter and the hics of an ugly cry would soon follow.

Nostalgia filled his dream turned nightmare as shards of a purple crystal grew more prominent in her feet, slowly but surely it engulfed her entire being. Shu could only helplessly give her one last look as the remnants of Inori would soon vanish.

Until it all shattered at once.

And that was the end of it.

It all faded to black. The days of not seeing her ever again dawned upon him once again every morning, and the sharp pain inside his chest pierced a deeper wound in a tomorrow that would no longer contain the woman he couldn't stop thinking about. Years had passed since the fourth Lost Christmas. Shu's world was a lot darker since those days, actually, literally darker. Rendered blind from the attack, Shu had to relearn basic daily activities as he no longer had a pair of working eyes to go about. He constantly played games of _pick and tell,_ being he wasn't quite good at being blind.

"Cortana?" Shu calls out.

"Yes, Shu? How may i help you?"

Cortana was the new AI developed to assist Shu in his daily activites. A quite adept robot at assisting him, Cortana was also very useful in that she would deliver messages, answer calls, and even pay bills on his behalf; all it would take is his simple command.

"Can you please pass me my cane?"

Shu and Haruka were quite lucky in the aftermath of everything. Japan fell into an economic crisis as mass inflation and bankruptcy overwhelmed Japan. More than ever before, Japan received further aid in foreign countries and the UN for the national disaster that took place. It took a lot of effort to pull through, but in recent years Japan has been getting back on its feet. Shu and Haruka were able to maintain a decent apartment as well as a few savings here and there. Her days a scientist continued on as she worked for private American institutions.

Cortana wheeled towards Shu's bedside and released two clamps to grip on the metallic cane. Its arms extended towards the male and was accepted by him. Shu shifted his legs to the side and lifted himself up. The hardwood floor was cold on his soft feet. His body was quite frail, knees a little weaker than before. Mornings were the hardest time of Shu's day.

He felt his way through the hallway and stopped at the kitchen to open his fridge. It was a daily routine for him to pick up his ready-made breakfast by Haruka and go for quick walks outside. Like many years prior, Haruka was simply too busy at work to attend to Shu's needs. He understood her situation though, and was usually bombarded with a little too much motherly care when she would be around him anyway.

He hated not being able to work, so much that he became clinically depressed. Years of being unable to have a steady occupation and feeling left behind the rest of them, it was very hard to endure. Fortunately, since Haruka landed quite a decent job, her company offered to pay for his operation. In a few month's time, Shu was scheduled for a surgery to return his sight. Until then, he would have to bear with what little his body had left to offer.

23 years old and counting, it was exactly 6 years since he could last recall seeing a pigment of color. He yearned to see what had become of the world.

* * *

Besides the fact that mornings were difficult for Shu, he did enjoy taking morning walks as a pastime. Eventually, he made a friend of a little girl in his apartment complex, one who'd accompany him on walks around the park. Although they didn't talk very much, it was nice to have someone walking around as he tuned in to his endless playlist of EGOIST songs on his earphones. (Voice command on the phone was a very valuable tool.)

"Good morning, Mr. Ouma!" Uttered the sweet little girl as the man who towered above her entered the elevator.

"Good morning, Yoshino. You should just call me Shu, by the way, everyone else calls me that."

When they reached the ground floor, Yoshino grasped his hand and led the way out of the lobby to the park right beside. It was a nice gesture of Yoshino to accompany his walks each morning, or rather they were both doing each other a favor. Yoshino's family paid not much attention to her, and so walks in the park could even be considered highlights of her day.

Together hand in hand, they walked through the park. Although he couldn't see, the cool breeze and the sounds of Yoshino's laughter as she skipped about was enough for him to enjoy. His skills in sound and in touch magnified almost immediately upon the loss of his vision. He could hear things a mile away; he even took amusement in eavesdropping on middle-aged women conversations of dramatic family life. His life now wasn't as nearly as interesting as it was back then, but it was truly peaceful.

Suddenly, an interference occurred in Shu's soundtrack. It seemed as though someone was contacting him.

All too soon the voice of a familiar envoy sent shivers down Shu's spine. "Do you remember me?" uttered the mysterious man.

Shu stopped in between their walk, and Yoshino is caught by surprise to see Shu meters behind her.

"Good to see you're alive and well. It seems we still have some use of you."

Shu can barely speak, but finally yelled "What do you want from me?"

"Da'ath's utopia. An inter-dimensional world where the impossible can happen. That's what. I'll be clear and concise. There are people in this utopia very important to you, and in order for you to see them, you must come here. Whether or not you believe will matter not, as our world and yours will soon combine and Da'ath's will shall soon be fulfilled. Be ready, Ouma Shu, for what follows is something very nasty." Yuu laughed.

The envoys transmission abruptly ended but was followed by a text message that claimed the portal to Da'ath's Utopia is in the ruins of the GHQ.

"I'm sorry, Yoshino! I'll catch up." Shu called out to Yoshino. Rushed along with his cane, Shu scurried along back to her, briefly dismissing the overwhelming information delivered by Yuu. _What could have he possibly meant by that_ , thought the man.

It was confusing enough to have been interrupted by someone who left the face of the earth for 6 entire years, but to somehow contact Shu with hints that his beloved friends could still be alive in an inter-dimensional plane of existence was bizarre. How did the physics connect so that two dimensions could intertwine and timelines of two places could exist as one? The fate of time and their existence could rest in the hands of someone as mysterious as Da'ath. Nonetheless, there was something Shu needed to do, and he had to act quickly.


End file.
